Toyota Got Safety Regulators to Limit Recalls
February 22, 2010 ( by Horatio Algren) Amidst recent allegations of a former Toyota attorney that Toyota either hid or destroyed evidence of defective vehicles, a new report comes out of equal significance in the quest for justice of injured Toyota victims. Documents are coming out about Toyota Motor Corp dealings with the Federal Highway Regulatory Agency months prior to the sudden accelerator problems that have been a part of the Toyota recall.
The document that has come to light is one that Toyota Motor Corp boasted about their success in limiting the regulators safety actions. Toyota officials stated they saved hundreds of millions of dollars after they persuaded the federal regulators to limit safety recall rules according to a document that was released Sunday.
This document showed the internal company presentation where the full attention was on favorable recall outcomes with regulators. The Toyota Motor Corp’s goal was to save money while the deaths of motorists was mounting and is being attributed to vehicles that uncontrollably accelerated.
Prior to the sudden acceleration problem being known other than by Toyota and the Federal Highway Regulatory Agency the document dated July 6, 2009 was presented in Washington DC addressed to Toyotas top executive Yoshimi Inaba.
The document was released by congressional investigators, which shows regulatory outline and also shows their winning position. Included in this document were their accomplishments that show problems with Toyota vehicles before the problems were widely known.
• Toyota Motor Corp saved over $ 100 million by negotiating a limited recall of vehicles with floor mat defects in 2007. There were 55,000 Camry and Lexus ES sedans involved with sudden acceleration problems that were investigated. Toyota recalled the vehicles in an effort to avoid a more thorough investigation.
• The company delayed adhering to the federal safety rules that require side impact air bags. This according to reports saved the company 50,000 hours of labor and $124 million.
• Toyota next saved $11 million when they stalled over safety regulations that govern roof crush standards, electric shocks from hybrid/electric vehicles and the sliding doors on the Sienna van.
• The company avoided a government investigation when there were rust problems with the Tacoma pickup. Toyota Motor Corp had already issued an internal buyback program for the pickups for this rust issue.
• The company was not called to answer when there was an investigation for the rear hatch on the Sienna after numerous consumer complaints. The claims were that there was no warning that passengers could fall out causing injury.
The document that was released Sunday also stated regulatory officials were concerned about sudden acceleration was a major safety issue that involved the Lexus ES, Lexus LS, the Camry and Tacoma. This concern was shown months prior to the first major recall.
The release of the document was done by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Sunday, which is two days before Congress will begin a series of public hearings involving Toyota’s handling of safety issues. This released document has shown the amount of time the automaker knew there were sudden acceleration issues and other problems.
Toyota is insisting the presentation did not exclude safety as their priority for their customers which come first according to spokeswoman Martha Voss in a statement for the company. Voss also stated that customers should not think differently as their values have always been to put the customer and their safety first.
According to Olivia Alair of the Department of Transportation it is not only the federal governments responsibility to catch safety issues, it is also the responsibility of the automaker to come forward when there is a safety defect.
Alair while defending her agency also stated that this document is very significant because it implies that the Toyota Motor Corp was able to avert federal investigations for defects and safety rule making issues.
This document has raised questions about the effectiveness of regulators, and over the past decade the sudden acceleration problems in Toyota and Lexus vehicles are being blamed for at least 34 deaths. The deaths attributed to this defect is more deaths than in any other models of vehicles according to federal records.
To date there have been over 2,000 complaints lodged with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration involving these autos. There have been eight investigations by the NHTSA since 2003 that involved sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles.
If you were injured as a result of a defective Toyota, contact Ehline Law | Injury Lawyer PC 633 West Fift Street, 28th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90071 213-596-9642 http://www.ehlinelaw.com/
